This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

ECB Says IMF Aid For Greece Is Inappropriate

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The turf war to (not) bail out Greece is on. Even though nobody wants to do it, yesterday's announcement by the IMF that it is willing to lend the troubled country a hand (and a few billion drachmas) has put Jean-Claude Trichet on edge. And even assuming today's bond deal gets done without too many glitches, Greece has at best bought itself breathing room for a month or so.We expect the volume on bailout speculation to go down at best by a couple of notches. In the meantime, the ECB has made it clear that Greece's problem are Europe's and Europe's alone, thank you IMF and America. This was made quite explicit in Trichet's post-ECB rate press conference earlier, when he said that he does "not trust that it would be appropriate to have the introduction of the IMF as a supplier of help through stand-by or through any other such help."

And some more quotes from the head of the ECB:

"The IMF technical assistance is very important, very appreciated," he said.

"The fact is that the conditionality inside the euro area has to be decided by the peers, according to the Stability and Growth Pact and the European framework as it stands."

Of course, for any European bailout to be self-contained, it would require the willing participation of powerhouse Germany, which so far has proven to be most reluctant to get involved. Look forward to more clues from tomorrow's meeting between Angela Merkel and the Greek Prime Minister as to what the near-term catalysts for Greece will be.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:37 | 253518 truont
truont's picture

Methinks ECB likes a weaker euro...

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:40 | 253520 peaceful
peaceful's picture

trichet bs..the imf is in there already. Austerity measures are right out of the IMF playbook

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:40 | 253521 Whizbang
Whizbang's picture

hope you hedgies took my advice on this for the last two weeks

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:46 | 253533 john_connor
john_connor's picture

We can't have the one world alliance just yet.  The NY banking cartel has only confiscated a fraction of the assets that it intends to.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:10 | 253555 MarketTruth
MarketTruth's picture

Actually the (non-members like the Vampire Squid Gioldman Sachs) banksters AND the member/owners of the Federal Reserve (Rothschild, Rockefellers, Schroder, Lazard, JP Morgans, Warburgs, etc) are right now in a power struggle to grab everything they can while stealing, er um i mean buying everything they can. This is the same old story as history repeats itself.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:15 | 253565 ElvisDog
ElvisDog's picture

History repeats itself? Name me one period in history when a small group of rich men successfully controlled the entire world for any length of time? One? It never happened. Oh, they may try but the world is too complex and there are too many competing interests and too much mutual animosity between groups of people. If the Nazi's had won WWII and taken over the world, they would have held on to it for about six months before they were overwhelmed by partisan/resistance movements. Same for the secret, all-powerful group of Rothschilds or whoever that you claim are going to take over our world.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:19 | 253575 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It's never been such a ...globalised world, if ya know what I mean.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:46 | 253604 Paladin en passant
Paladin en passant's picture

1. Roman empire

2. Holy Roman empire

3. Feudal Europe

4. Han dynasty

5. Mongol empire

Shall I go on? (and don't nitpick about "the world" because the small group of men in these empires controlled most of the known world in their time)

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:58 | 253679 ElvisDog
ElvisDog's picture

The Romans did not take over the world. Augustus wisely determined that they had reached their limits and initiated a policy of no further expansion. From that time on they were concerned with defending their borders. The only further expansion after Augustus was done by Trajan when he defeated the Dacians. Feudal Europe? I think the Muslims gave them some competition. Holy Roman Empire? Please, that was a very small area relatively speaking. I don't know much about Mongol or Han history. However, you have really made my point. Even though those were vast empires, they didn't take over the world and there were enough competing empires/nations to ensure the ultimate collapse of those empires. The theme among the tinfoil-hat crowd is that this "banking cartel" is going to institute a one-world government and currency. History says that ain't gonna happen.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 15:39 | 253939 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

> Feudal Europe? I think the Muslims gave them some competition.

And the various sovereigns often had plenty of competition from their nominal vassals, not to mention each other.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:04 | 253549 SDRII
SDRII's picture

why is the squid squirming higher

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:16 | 253567 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The breakdown from current support on the EURUSD should be pretty exciting.

Beware the Ides of March ;)

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:23 | 253579 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"ECB Says IMF Aid For Greece Is Inappropriate"

What a great headline. When did "Inappropriate" stop the powers-that-be (or any determined individual, group or nation) from doing anything? I mean really, can anyone name the last time a determined thief or con man was stopped cold in his or her tracks because of the (in)appropriateness of their actions? I thought so.

Ostensibly, this is the role of the traffic cops and regulators. We have since learned otherwise but I can still dream, can't I?

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:41 | 253602 Assetman
Assetman's picture

If the ECB has the power to impose moral hazard induced socialism by creating Euros to buy Greek notes, I gather the ECB can trigger that will.

Jean Claude Triche might want to re-check the policitical impact for such a move, considering the Germans would blow a schnitzel if the Greeks were bailed out in wholesale fashion.

My guess is that Triche is more bark than bite, as his days are numbered anyway.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 11:46 | 253605 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

> The turf war to (not) bail out Greece is on.

Welcome to the absurdist Mexican standoff. The guy in the corner is threatening to shoot himself. The guy to his left is threatening not to shoot him.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:08 | 253624 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

Or if IMF already said no we can't then ECB says we don't need you.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:11 | 253628 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

As an aside, a Greek MEP asked the Commission to investigate whether "IMF assistance" to a Eurozone member is legal under EC law...

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:17 | 253634 Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

If you take money from the IMF shoot them right after they hand you the check. When the CIA comes to enforce on you. Keep shooting.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 14:05 | 253764 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

I agree with the ECB.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 16:46 | 254016 House Atreides
House Atreides's picture

Watching JCT, the IMF and Merkel with Greece. Its like watching 3 bald men arguing over a comb.

Fri, 04/16/2010 - 09:04 | 303716 mark456
mark456's picture

ucvhost is a leading web site hosting service provider that is known to provide reliable and affordable hosting packages to customers. The company believes in providing absolute and superior control to the customer as well as complete security and flexibility through its many packages. cheap vps Moreover, the company provides technical support as well as customer service 24x7, in order to enable its customers to easily upgrade their software, install it or even solve their problems. ucvhost offers the following different packages to its customers.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!